125 Summers on the lake

In the summer of 1902, the Hudson, Pelham & Salem Railways had a new trolley line and a problem: how to fill the cars on weekends. Its answer was a "pleasure resort" on the shore of Canobie Lake, opened less than eight weeks after the line itself. Visitors came to canoe, picnic, ride the Circle Swing and stroll grounds so well planted that people called them a botanical garden.

The trolleys stopped in 1929 and the park went dark with them. It came back in 1932 under a new owner, who in 1936 bought a wooden roller coaster from Lakewood Park in Waterbury, Connecticut, and rebuilt it here. Today that ride is the Yankee Cannonball, and it still runs. In the big-band years the Dancehall brought Guy Lombardo, Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra to Salem.

Fire, a robbery, a hurricane and the end of the big-band era nearly finished the park in the 1950s. In March 1958, three friends from New Jersey bought it and paved the midway themselves. Since then the park has added a water park, a steam train along the shore, a lake cruise and, in 2011, a beyond-vertical coaster called Untamed. The longer story is in our Canobie Lake Park history.

• 1902Trolley company opens the park
• 1929Last trolley leaves Salem; the park closes
• 1936The Yankee Cannonball arrives from Connecticut
• 1958Three friends buy the park
• 2011Untamed opens: 72-ft lift, 97° drop
• 2027125 years since opening day

Rides to know

• Yankee Cannonball: a classic wooden coaster, 60 seconds of out-and-back.
• Untamed: the park's newest coaster, with a beyond-vertical drop. 48" minimum.
• Antique Carousel: carved in 1903, with a 1922 Wurlitzer band organ.
• Log Flume: ends in a 40-foot splash.
• Mine of Lost Souls: the dark ride about two Salem boys, Billy and Bobby Hollander.
• Castaway Island: slides, a lazy river and a splash fort, included with admission.

Every ride, with its height rule, is in our Canobie Lake Park rides guide. For tickets, parking and lockers, read our Canobie Lake Park tips.

Screeemfest

Since 2008, Canobie turns into a Halloween night out on fall weekends: six haunted houses, live shows, roaming monsters and the rides after dark, through October 31. Guest costumes are not allowed. This year’s dates and tips are in our Screeemfest guide.